Asteroid 270 Anahita Transiting IC 443, The Jellyfish Nebula

This crossing took place on the morning of December 10th, 2008 as viewed from my backyard in Tucson, AZ.

I was not aware of the transit during the imaging session, but noticed the object during my post-acquisition data reduction process.

Asteroid #270 Anahita was discovered in 1887 and is a main belt asteroid.

 (click on image for larger size, full-frame version - note file is very large and may take a few moments to download):

 

Image acquisition and processing details:

Telescope: Takahashi Epsilon 180, f/2.8
Mount: Astro-Physics AP1200
Camera: SBIG ST-10XME cooled to -30C, internal guiding.
Filters, Exposure Times: AstroDon 3nm Hydrogen-alpha, 15 minute subframes x 15.
Dates: 12/10/08.
Moon Phase: approximately 93%.
Location: Xanadu Observatory, Backyard in Tucson, AZ
Software: CCDCommander, MaximDL, FocusMax, TheSky, CCDInspector, CCDStack, Adobe Photoshop CS4.
Notes: Animation was created by layering 15 subframes in Photoshop.